With less than three weeks to prepare for the National United USA Pageant, Noblesville resident Jessica Hopper never imagined she would take home the title.
So, Hopper, 31, was stunned when she was crowned Mrs. United USA 2024 at the event held June 10 to 14 in Daytona Beach, Fla. She was also named the interview, swimsuit and runway winner and voted as the national Miss Congeniality. She will represent the U.S. at the international pageant next year.
“The United USA pageant said that they (didn’t) have somebody to represent Indiana and asked me if I would be willing to compete,” Hopper said. “I had less than (three) weeks to prepare for the pageant, whereas most of the other delegates had 6 to 10 months. There was not a lot of prep. It was more of going off of my experience.”
Hopper was named Mrs. Ireland World in 2023 and Miss Ireland Supra in 2021. Aside from competing, she is a pageant coach and owns a business, Miss Jessica Marie, where she trains girls of all ages in pageantry. She said she had to quickly pull from everything she has learned over the years to feel prepared to compete.
“I know it all happened really quick, but it was a title that, for me, was at the top of my list,” Hopper said. “I was thinking it was going to be 2025 when I would compete there, and they convinced me I could do it in two and a half weeks. So it was a lot, and I wasn’t really expecting it.”
Hopper said she appreciates that the National United USA Pageant places a major focus on each competitor’s platform, personal brand or message, known as the “Legacy in the Making.”
“Before I entered pageantry, my world revolved around social work,” Hopper said. “I came from an abusive childhood and background. I was sent to a girls’ home at some point in my life, so that’s always been the area that I wanted to get back (into) professionally and philanthropically.”
Hopper is founder and president of SAFE Homes, which focuses on child abuse prevention.
“My brand (SAFE Homes) was a really big reason why I gravitated to the United USA pageant, because they had everything that was traditional with beauty pageants, but our social media was considered, and a large portion was our legacy in the making, where we had to do videos showcasing what we’ve been doing and something that we were passionate about outside of pageantry, which resonated very much with me,” Hopper said. “That’s been my purpose since before I had even thought about pageants being an option for me.”
Hopper said her legacy means more to her than any title.
“As soon as I won, we immediately had interviews and podcasts,” Hopper said. “Rather than the questions being like, how do you stay fit because I won the swimsuit category, it was, what is your legacy going to be? What are you going to do for these children throughout this next year? What are your actual goals? Which meant a lot more to me as a title holder.”
Cindy Christi, the inaugural Mrs. Elite United Universe, said she has watched Hopper’s pageant journey for five years and is eager to watch her take the national title to new heights. United USA is the official preliminary competition to advance to the United Universe pageant.
“(Jessica) is passionate about her legacy platform and it is a perfect match and outstanding system committed to helping women and girls discover and build their legacies,” Christi said.
Before her involvement in pageants, Hopper graduated from college with psychology and interpersonal relations degrees and minored in family science and dance performance.
“I started pageantry when I was 24, so I was late to the game,” Hopper said. “I started after I graduated school. Someone had suggested that I’d be really good at pageantry. I didn’t really listen to it until after I graduated college, as that was my main focus.”
As a national title holder, Hopper will represent the U.S. for a year. A date for the international pageant has not yet been determined.
“Right now, it’ll be a lot of traveling,” Hopper said. “I still do modeling and runway work. So, New York and Paris Fashion Week are in the works. It will be nice taking the crown with me and representing the pageant at the same time as what I’m doing outside. I’ll be traveling to several states and also helping out with their pageants to girls involved.”
To keep up with Hopper’s journey, follow her Instagram at instagram.com/missjessicahopper/?hl=en.
Working to prevent child abuse
Jessica Hopper’s campaign, SAFE Homes, works to prevent child abuse.
“We work with organizations such as Hands of Hope, which is local to the Indianapolis area,” Hopper said. “I worked as a social worker for years previously, but more so, we work on social campaigns by speaking to political leaders and explaining the importance of child abuse prevention.”
SAFE stands for stability, allocation, family and education, Hopper said.
“Indiana used to be one of the worst states for child welfare laws,” Hopper said. “That has changed quite a bit in the last five to seven years due to the work of Child Protective Services and also social work, which is phenomenal for us. Understanding what family actually means to these children, whether we’re reuniting a family that already exists and helping them through that, or recreating a family as well, is awesome.”
